


Stumbling Steps

by pepperymilk



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, POV Dorian, POV Dorian Pavus, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 15:24:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6158023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperymilk/pseuds/pepperymilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Then he says it back, your native tongue on his and you've been discovered so you hide and hope he finds you again. Your country's faults litter his skin and you sink deeper and deeper and you can still see him shining through the water and illuminating the space that you occupy. The light burns your eyes and the salt stings your open wounds so he drags you out of the waves and heals them with delicate hands and no matter how much you struggle, to try and save him from the inevitable future, you become limp at his touch and you shiver when he speaks, when his lips part and to you he says,</p>
<p>"I love you."<br/>___</p>
<p>A small drabble for Dorian. Inspired by Cole's cryptic comments.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stumbling Steps

**Author's Note:**

> "Glittering to gloss a hidden hurt. Unlearning not to hope for more. Stumbling steps where the wall used to be."

You wonder for a moment, your fingers running through his hair and his chest rising in shallow breaths, if he really meant it. He looks to you and says something in a language you can't comprehend and yet you understand it. You feel naked and vulnerable, it's always been hide, run, suppress, repeat and now the veil has been lifted and you can no longer hold its dark fabric against your skin. You'd like to reach out, touch his cheek, heal his scarred face and equally scarred soul, but he'd refuse as he always does,

 

_"I'm fine, Dorian."_

 

You know it's a lie, but you understand because you're a liar. Not one thing from your mouth strikes true when you speak to him and you don't deserve him. You often think of times you done him wrong, and yes it's true, you don't. Yet, he comes back without hesitation, something you've never seen before and again you hurt him but he is your sun, sky, salvation and soul -  _amatus_ ; the words roll off your tongue easily and you hope he can't understand them because they are the truth and from you, he knows only lies but then,

Then he says it back, your native tongue on his and you've been discovered so you hide and hope he finds you again. Your country's faults litter his skin and you sink deeper and deeper and you can still see him shining through the water and illuminating the space that you occupy. The light burns your eyes and the salt stings your open wounds so he drags you out of the waves and heals them with delicate hands and no matter how much you struggle, to try and save him from the inevitable future, you become limp at his touch and you shiver when he speaks, when his lips part and to you he says,

 

_"I love you."_

 

He looks at you with longing eyes and you hear his voice and you hear his words, but to you they are dead and foreign. To you they've been said before but just as ornaments and persuasive lies. To you they've been spoken at you and not to you. And you can't reciprocate but you want to so badly because he has brought life to your language and color to dull shades of grey and he has brought meaning to the phrase and has made it a prayer.

But you don't. And you spit and scoff a smart recoil and he laughs, he laughs and you smile because you don't know if he's naive or stubborn or a perfect mix of the two. His hearty voice echoes and his teeth show through his smile and he stops to look at you and he says it again without opening his mouth and you can't tell if you're uncomfortable or happy but it feels right so you bring your lips to his. He chuckles underneath you and you struggle to keep your guard up because the the bricks in the wall around you begin to shake and shatter and fall to the ground and through the holes and cracks you see something.

He shudders beneath you and you hear his breath shake and tremble and you trace the freckles on his body and in the process you explore and discover every inch and every crease and you wonder how anything in the world could have created him because you can't find a painting to compare him to.

His breath is hot against your neck as he says it again,

 

_"I love you, Dorian."_

 

And that's when you realize that the walls have shaken to their foundation and a stumbling staircase has been laid in front of you.

It's then you realize he meant it and his hair is soft in your fist. 

 


End file.
